'Pastafarians' in Poland unfurled a banner with the words ‘Do not fear the Monster!’ as a Warsaw court upheld their right to register as a religion. The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster is considered to be an atheistic caricature of orthodox religions.

Pastafarians in Poland are rejoicing over a new ruling that lets their church apply to register as a religion.

Shouts of “pasta” filled the air outside a Warsaw court Tuesday as Judge Wlodzimierz Kowalczyk overturned a previous ruling that had banned the noodle worshippers from being recognized as an official faith community.

The judgment was based on a technicality, Polskie Radio reports. Kowalczyk said the group hadn’t been given a required two-month extension for submitting outstanding documents.

Despite the close call, the Pastafarians were happy about the win.

“Yesterday was filled with signs indicating the Monster’s goodwill,” the Polish group wrote, according to a translation obtained by Patheos. “The Monster’s followers spread out a banner on the stairs of the Court bearing the uplifting words “Do not fear the Monster!” and — following a tradition sanctified over centuries — repaired to a nearby restaurant for a bowl of spaghetti and a small beer.”

The Catholic Church in Poland has spoken out against the Pastafarians, claiming the movement is anti-Catholic provocation.

The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster started in the United States in 2005 as part of the backlash against the Kansas State Board of Education's decision to teach intelligent design in public schools.

Pastafarians say they believe the world was created by a Flying Spaghetti Monster and take Friday as their religious holiday. Practioners insist their religious beliefs are genuine, although many consider the movement to be a caricature of orthodox religion.

Pastafarian prayers end with the word “R’amen,” a reference to both Japanese noodles and to the Christian “Amen.”

TOMASZ GZELL/EPA

Pastafarians in Poland are rejoicing over a new ruling that lets their church apply to register as a religion.

Shouts of “pasta” filled the air outside a Warsaw court Tuesday as Judge Wlodzimierz Kowalczyk overturned a previous ruling that had banned the noodle worshippers from being recognized as an official faith community.

The judgment was based on a technicality, Polskie Radio reports. Kowalczyk said the group hadn’t been given a required two-month extension for submitting outstanding documents.

Despite the close call, the Pastafarians were happy about the win.

“Yesterday was filled with signs indicating the Monster’s goodwill,” the Polish group wrote, according to a translation obtained by Patheos. “The Monster’s followers spread out a banner on the stairs of the Court bearing the uplifting words “Do not fear the Monster!” and — following a tradition sanctified over centuries — repaired to a nearby restaurant for a bowl of spaghetti and a small beer.”

The Catholic Church in Poland has spoken out against the Pastafarians, claiming the movement is anti-Catholic provocation.

The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster started in the United States in 2005 as part of the backlash against the Kansas State Board of Education's decision to teach intelligent design in public schools.

Pastafarians say they believe the world was created by a Flying Spaghetti Monster and take Friday as their religious holiday. Practioners insist their religious beliefs are genuine, although many consider the movement to be a caricature of orthodox religion.

Pastafarian prayers end with the word “R’amen,” a reference to both Japanese noodles and to the Christian “Amen.”

Critics say the project's underlying objective is to convert non-Muslim children to Islam by bringing proselytizing messages into public schools under the guise of promoting multiculturalism and fighting "Islamophobia."

The group recently ran an advertisement promising to pay 250 Czech korunas ($13 dollars) to any student aged 15 to 18 years who would attend a two hour presentation about Islam.

More recently, Muslims in the Czech Republic have tried to ban a book they say is Islamophobic, and have filed a ten-page criminal complaint against its formerly-Muslim author.

The Czech government has approved a new project aimed at promoting Islam in public elementary and secondary schools across the country.

The group says the Czech Ministry of Education has authorized it to organize lectures and seminars aimed at "teaching Czech schoolchildren about Islamic beliefs and practices" and at "fighting stereotypes and prejudices about Muslims."

The locals of the association were opened in Istanbul's Kadıköy district.

The first Atheism Association has been officially founded in Turkey, becoming a legal address in an effort to stand up for the rights of atheists in the country, daily Radikal has reported.

“No atheists will be alone anymore, either on the streets or in courts,” the association said via its official Twitter account.

It also invited “everyone who wants to meet or be a member” to its office, located in Istanbul’s Kadıköy district.

In an interview with daily Agos last month, the founders of the Initiative of Atheism Association, Tolga İnci and Ahmet Balyemez, said they thought there should be a place to provide legal support to people facing problems as atheists.

“Even saying ‘I am an atheist’ has begun to mean an insult to Islam in Turkey. The prime minister’s remarks that ‘every atheist is a terrorist’ are being taken as normal,” they said in the interview. “We need to say ‘we are here’ as atheists ... We are not related to any ideology. We want to approach atheism scientifically, not ideologically.”

Catholic bishop criticizes atheist Prime Minister for not having gone to church on the day marking Croatian statehood on June 25.

Bishop Vlado Kosic of Sisak, said while presiding over a religious service that Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic, a declared atheist, was deliberately promoting atheism.

“This is an attempt to violently promote atheism and anti-Catholicism in Croatian society,” Kosic said, referring to the Prime Minister's announcement that he and other non-religious ministers would not be going to church on the day marking Croatian statehood.

“They should be in church together with their religious people, since they are their representatives,” the bishop added.

Milanovic said that as an atheist he did not want to go to the church on state holidays, as Catholics in Croatia usually do, including all former Croatian presidents and prime ministers.

The Prime Minister's remarks made waves in Croatia, a predominantly Catholic country where almost 90 per cent of the population declare themselves as Catholics.

August 2013 - A group of activists connected with the Russian Orthodox Church are setting up a center against atheist extremism which, according to them, is promoted mainly by foreign-sponsored organizations.

The decision was announced this week at a meeting between city residents and deputies of a district council that was held near the pilgrimage center of the Moscow Patriarchate, in south-west Moscow.

“The atheist extremism is currently rearing its head. It is sponsored by various funds and NGOs with roots outside Russian borders,” reads the first statement released by the new movement.

The group claims that their enemies are opposing citizens’ lawful right for freedom of thought, conscience and religion, guaranteed by the Constitution.